The present invention relates generally to baby cribs and more specifically to a crib bumper pad.
Permanently mounted or removable rail or bar restraints are widely used to prevent children or the incapacitated from falling out of bed. Unfortunately, these restraints typically allow the head, arms and/or legs to be inserted through the rails or bars of the bed or crib. These limbs may then become lodged between the rails or accidently struck by moving people or objects outside the crib.
To reduce these dangers, crib bumper pads have been developed. Typically, these crib bumper pads are thin, padded strips covered with fabric or plastic and positioned on top of the mattress around the interior boundary of the crib. Other bumper pads have inflatable padded strips that are connected together and inflated to form a cushioned bumper around the crib. Although the padded strips are usually fastened to the crib, they still may permit the insertion of the child's head, arms or legs between the mattress and the bumper strip itself. Thus, they do not completely eliminate the danger of limbs being caught between the bars of the crib or bed.
Another problem with existing bumper pads is that they tend to be loosely stuffed with filler material. This results in the filler material being redistributed as the crib bumper is handled, particularly when it is washed, such that the crib bumper starts to lose its shape. This loss of shape may cause some portions of the bumper to become thinner and, therefore, provide less protection to the child.